Diego Manuel Jadon da Silva Moreira (; born 6 August 2004), also known as Moreira Jr. is a professional

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby le ...

who plays as a winger for

Ligue 1 Ligue 1, officially known as Ligue 1 Uber Eats for sponsorship reasons, is a French professional league for men's association football clubs. At the top of the French football league system, it is the country's primary football competition. A ...

club Lyon, on loan from Premier League club Chelsea. Born in Belgium, he is a Portuguese youth international.

Early life

Moreira was born in

Liège Liège ( , , ; wa, Lîdje ; nl, Luik ; german: Lüttich ) is a major city and municipality of Wallonia and the capital of the Belgian province of Liège. The city is situated in the valley of the Meuse, in the east of Belgium, not far from b ...

, where his father, former Guinea-Bissau international Almami Moreira, was then playing professional football at

Standard de Liege Standard may refer to: Symbols * Colours, standards and guidons, kinds of military signs * Heraldic flag, Standard (emblem), a type of a large symbol or emblem used for identification Norms, conventions or requirements * Standard (metrology) ...

. From his mother's side, Diego is the grandson of

Helmut Graf Helmut Graf (born 8 February 1963) is an Austrian football manager and former footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football ...

, a German-born footballer who also played for the Belgian club from 1976 to 1982.

Club career

Early career

Coming through the youth ranks at Standard—where his father played until 2006— Moreira first tried to leave the club in 2019 for personal reasons, training with

Lierse Kempenzonen Lierse Kempenzonen is a Belgian association football club located in Lier, in the province of Antwerp. The club, founded in 1943 as Oosterzonen in Oosterwijk, was relocated to Lier following the bankruptcy of Lierse in 2018. They compete in ...

, but with the Belgian federation eventually not approving his move. He ended up leaving ''Les'' ''Rouches'' for Benfica in August 2020, signing his first professional contract with the club from

Lisbon Lisbon (; pt, Lisboa ) is the capital and largest city of Portugal, with an estimated population of 544,851 within its administrative limits in an area of 100.05 km2. Grande Lisboa, Lisbon's urban area extends beyond the city's administr ...

, where his father lived.

Benfica

Moreira started to play with Benfica's under-23 in the Liga Revelação midway through the 2020–21 season. During the following season, he became a regular starter with the U23 team—scoring his first goal with the team during a 3–0 derby win against Sporting. He made his professional debut for

Benfica B Sport Lisboa e Benfica "B", commonly known as Benfica B, is a Portuguese professional football team based in Seixal. Founded in 1999, dissolved in 2006, and restarted in 2012, it is the reserve team of Portuguese club S.L. Benfica. They play in ...

on the 10 January 2022, replacing Tiago Gouveia for the last 15 minutes of a 1–2 home Segunda Liga loss to rivals Porto B. He played a major role in the UEFA Youth League, where Benfica U19 topped their group against Dynamo Kyiv, Barcelona and

Bayern Munich Fußball-Club Bayern München e. V. (FCB, ), also known as FC Bayern (), Bayern Munich, or simply Bayern, is a German professional sports club based in Munich, Bavaria. It is best known for its professional men's football team, which pla ...

, Moreira most notably scoring a goal against the latter during a 4–0 home win in October 2021. In the final phases, he scored a brace and provided two assists in a 4–0 derby win against Sporting in the quarter-finals; and provided another two assists in the final in a 6–0 win over Red Bull Salzburg to help Benfica win their first Youth League title, and their first title in European football since the

1961–62 European Cup The 1961–62 European Cup was the seventh season of the European Cup. The competition was won by Benfica for the second time in a row, beating Real Madrid 5–3 in the final at the Olympisch Stadion in Amsterdam. Malta entered its champion fo ...

. Under interim manager Nélson Veríssimo, Moreira was promoted to Benfica's

first team First team may refer to: Sports * First team (association football), the colloquial name given to the most senior team fielded by a football club * The First Team, the first players known to have played the sport of basketball * First Team All-A ...

alongside seven other Benfica youth team players, making his debut on 13 May 2022, in a 2–0 away win to

Paços de Ferreira Paços de Ferreira () is a city in the Porto District, in the north of Portugal. The population of the city in 2011 was 7491, while its municipality had 56,340 inhabitants, in an area of 70.99 km². Sometimes referred to as the ''Capital do ...

in the

Primeira Liga The Primeira Liga (; English: Premier League, also written as Liga Portugal 1), also known as Liga Portugal Bwin for sponsorship reasons, is the top level of the Portuguese football league system. Organised and supervised by the Liga Portugal, ...

. However, after refusing to sign a new contract during the pre-season, he was demoted to the B team, and sporadically appeared for the latter, with the team's manager Luís Castro deeming his situation "difficult", before returning to the under-23's for the rest of the season.

Chelsea

On 1 July 2023, Moreira joined Premier League club Chelsea, following the expiration of his contract with Benfica. On 30 August 2023, he made his debut for the club starting in their

EFL Cup The EFL Cup (referred to historically, and colloquially, as the League Cup), currently known as the Carabao Cup for sponsorship reasons, is an annual knockout competition and major trophy in men's domestic football in England. Organised by the ...

second round tie against

AFC Wimbledon AFC Wimbledon is an English professional Association football, football club, based in London Borough of Merton, Merton, London, that plays in the EFL League Two, after being relegated from the EFL League One following the 2021–22 EFL Leagu ...

, featuring for 45 minutes in the eventual 2–1 victory.

Loan to Lyon

On 1 September 2023, Moreira joined

club Lyon on a season-long loan. He made his debut for the club on 17 September, coming off the bench to replace

Ernest Nuamah Ernest Appiah Nuamah (born 1 November 2003) is a Ghanaian professional footballer who plays as a forward for FC Nordsjælland. Career Nuamah started his career with Right to Dream Academy before joining FC Nordsjælland in January 2022. He ma ...

on the 77th minute of a 0–0 league draw at home to Le Havre. Six days later, he made his first start for ''Les Gones'', playing 52 minutes in a 1–0 league loss away at Brest.

International career

A dual citizen of Belgium and Portugal—while also eligible to play for both Guinea-Bissau and Germany—Moreira first played with the Belgium under-15 as he was a starter during their 3–1 win against England at St George's Park in February 2019. But even before leaving to play his club football in Portugal, the youngster chose to switch for the Lusitanian selection in 2019, becoming a regular with the under-16 and—after a

covid Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by a virus, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The first known case was identified in Wuhan, China, in December 2019. The disease quickly ...

-interrupted 2020–21 season—with the under-18.

Style of play

A left-footed winger able to play on both sides of the attack, Moreira is described as a fast, explosive and technically gifted footballer, most notably excelling in dribbling past his opponent. He is compared to the likes of Portuguese international Nani.

Career statistics

Club

Honours

Benfica U19 *

Campeonato Nacional de Juniores The Campeonato Nacional de Juniores is the top level of the Portuguese football league system for youth players (19-year-old and under). It is administrated by the Portuguese Football Federation The Portuguese Football Federation (FPF) ( pt, F ...

: 2021–22 * UEFA Youth League: 2021–22 *

Under-20 Intercontinental Cup The Under-20 Intercontinental Cup ( es, Sub-20 Intercontinental, pt, Intercontinental de Sub-20) is a football match organised by CONMEBOL and UEFA. The match is contested by the winners of the South American and European youth club competitions ...

2022 File:2022 collage V1.png, Clockwise, from top left: Road junction at Yamato-Saidaiji Station several hours after the assassination of Shinzo Abe; 2022 Sri Lankan protests, Anti-government protest in Sri Lanka in front of the Presidential Secretari ...

References

External links

Profile
at the Chelsea F.C. website * *
Diego Moreira
at playmakerstats.com {{DEFAULTSORT:Moreira, Diego 2004 births Living people Footballers from Liège Portuguese men's footballers Belgian men's footballers Belgium men's youth international footballers Portugal men's youth international footballers Portugal men's under-21 international footballers Portuguese sportspeople of Bissau-Guinean descent Portuguese people of German descent Black Portuguese sportspeople Belgian people of Bissau-Guinean descent Belgian people of German descent Belgian people of Portuguese descent Black Belgian sportspeople Men's association football wingers S.L. Benfica B players S.L. Benfica footballers Chelsea F.C. players Olympique Lyonnais players Liga Portugal 2 players Primeira Liga players Premier League players Ligue 1 players Portuguese expatriate men's footballers Belgian expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in England Expatriate men's footballers in France Portuguese expatriate sportspeople in England Belgian expatriate sportspeople in England Portuguese expatriate sportspeople in France Belgian expatriate sportspeople in France